Revitalized Detroit Makes Bold Bets on New Models

By

Jeff Bennett and

Neal E. Boudette

January 9, 2012

AUBURN HILLS, Mich.—Sergio Marchionne strode around the cavernous design studio at Chrysler Group LLC last month inspecting a soon-to-launch new compact car, the Dodge Dart, and offered a bold idea. "We are going to try to grab some share" in the small-car segment, he said, puffing on a Marlboro.

Not so long ago, a Chrysler chief saying that might have been laughed out of the room. For a generation, the company and its two Detroit rivals, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co., all but conceded leadership of the...